Declaration
BRICS New Delhi Declaration 2026: what leaders agreed
On 12 September 2026, BRICS leaders adopted the BRICS New Delhi Declaration at the XVIII summit, held in New Delhi on 12–13 September under India’s chairship and the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.” On West Asia, paragraph 28 says leaders “express deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions in Middle East/West Asia” and “call for exercising maximum restraint.”
This BRICS New Delhi Declaration is the leaders’ text of 12 September 2026. It is not the New Delhi Declaration on AI Impact from the AI Impact Summit of 18–19 February 2026, and it is not the G20’s 2023 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration. The summit calendar note had waited for this text. Citation rules are on the methodology page.
What did BRICS agree at the 2026 New Delhi summit?
The BRICS New Delhi Declaration mixes named mechanisms with positions carried forward from Kazan and Rio.
- Paragraph 140 extends “full support to China for its BRICS Chairship in 2027 and the holding of the XIX BRICS Summit in China.”
- Paragraph 90 acknowledges “discussions on promoting trade settlements and investments using BRICS local currencies” and encourages the BRICS Payment Task Force to continue. Settlement language, without a volume, is the trade and payments note.
- Paragraph 115 encourages the New Development Bank to “expand local currency financing” and to give “expedited consideration of applications of interested BRICS countries,” and welcomes the BRICS-NDB Knowledge Portal. The institution is the New Development Bank note.
- Paragraph 54 endorses the “BRICS Roadmap for the Joint Initiative on Healthy Lifestyle Promotion (2026–2029).” Paragraph 61 agrees to a “non-binding” BRICS AGRIN. Paragraph 51 welcomes a sub-group on a “BRICS Integrated Early Warning System.” Paragraph 85 welcomes the Jaipur Consensus to study an “Invoice Discounting Mechanism.” Paragraph 100 welcomes a “BRICS Task Force on Growth and Development.”
- Paragraph 22 condemns “unilateral coercive measures that are contrary to international law,” including “unilateral economic sanctions and secondary sanctions,” and opposes measures “including non-UN Security Council authorized sanctions.”
- Paragraph 13 reiterates support for “a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council.”
None of these lines is a mutual-defense commitment. That limit is the security-cooperation note.
What does the declaration say about the war in West Asia?
Paragraph 28 calls for “exercising maximum restraint” and for “the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure,” and it asks states to maintain a “smooth flow of global trade, supply chains and energy.” It names neither the United States, nor Israel, nor Iran, nor the United Arab Emirates. It does not say “shipping” or “maritime.” Paragraph 29 adds “serious concern over deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities” under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, and names no attacker.
Israel is named later, on Gaza and Lebanon. Paragraph 33 cites “the legal proceedings instituted by South Africa against Israel.” Paragraph 35 calls on Israel “to withdraw its occupying forces from all of the Lebanese territories, in which they remain.” Paragraph 31 restates a two-state formula “within the internationally recognized 1967 borders,” with “East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Iran is named only in paragraph 20, which supports “Ethiopia and Iran’s bid for accession to the WTO.” The United Arab Emirates is named as a co-lead of the Mangrove Alliance for Climate (paragraph 112) and as co-host of the 2026 UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi (paragraph 113). The United States is not named anywhere in the declaration. Ukraine is not named anywhere in it. The text can still be specific: paragraph 40 condemns “the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 22 April 2025, during which 26 people were killed and many more injured.” The conflict record for the war paragraph 28 circles without naming is Armed Conflicts’ Iran–US war briefing.
What follows is reporting on the negotiation, not a clause of the text. The Hindu reported on 12 September 2026 that Iran and the UAE agreed “a last-minute compromise on the language used about the war in West Asia,” and that the statement “did not directly mention the attacks against Iran by the United States and Israel nor Iran’s subsequent strikes on its Persian Gulf neighbours, including the UAE,” and “made no separate mention of the Russian war in Ukraine.” Al Jazeera reported on 13 September 2026 that the text “avoided condemning the US-Israeli strikes or Iran’s targeting of Gulf countries” and wrote of a “global trade war without naming the United States.” Al Jazeera also wrote that the war language “did not mention the US, Israel, Iran or the Gulf states explicitly.” That fits paragraph 28. It does not fit paragraphs 33 and 35, which name Israel.
Does BRICS condemn US tariffs and sanctions?
The declaration does not name the United States. Paragraph 21 says leaders “voice serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO rules.” The verb in that sentence is concern, not condemn. Paragraph 22 does condemn “the imposition of unilateral coercive measures that are contrary to international law,” including “unilateral economic sanctions and secondary sanctions,” and leaders reaffirm “opposition to unilateral coercive measures that are contrary to international law and the Charter of the United Nations, including non-UN Security Council authorized sanctions.”
That names a category of measures, not a tariff schedule and not a settlement volume. Local-currency wording is followed on the trade and payments note. The declaration publishes no BRICS-versus-G7 ledger; the explainer is whatisbrics.org’s BRICS and G7 note.
What does it say on UN Security Council reform?
Paragraph 13 supports “a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, with a view to making it more democratic, representative, effective and efficient,” recognises African aspirations “as reflected in the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration,” and records that “China and Russia, as permanent members of the UN Security Council, reiterate their support to the aspirations of Brazil and India to play a greater role in the UN, including its Security Council.”
The Kazan Declaration of 23 October 2024, paragraph 8, already supported “a comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including its Security Council” and recognised the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration. It did not include the China-and-Russia sentence on Brazil and India. The Rio de Janeiro Declaration of 6 July 2025, paragraph 6, did. New Delhi paragraph 13 carries that Rio sentence forward. Where the 2026 intergovernmental negotiations stand, separate from this communiqué, is Foreign Diplomacy’s note on the African model.
What changed from Rio 2025 and what stayed the same
The cells quote the Rio de Janeiro Declaration of 6 July 2025 and the BRICS New Delhi Declaration of 12 September 2026.
| Topic | Rio 2025 | New Delhi 2026 | Changed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strikes in West Asia | Paragraph 21 condemns “military strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran since 13 June 2025,” which “constitute a violation of international law.” | Paragraph 28 calls for “maximum restraint” and does not name Iran. Paragraph 29 keeps concern over attacks on “peaceful nuclear facilities.” | Yes |
| Ukraine | Paragraph 22 recalls “our national positions concerning the conflict in Ukraine.” | No paragraph names Ukraine. | Yes |
| Tariffs | Paragraph 13 voices “serious concerns” about “unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures” inconsistent with WTO rules. | Paragraph 21 repeats that concern, then says leaders “will work together to enhance the WTO’s responsiveness to trade disruptions.” | Restated |
| Sanctions | Paragraph 14: members “do not impose or support non-UN Security Council authorized sanctions that are contrary to international law.” | Paragraph 22 states “opposition” to “non-UN Security Council authorized sanctions.” | Wording changed |
| Security Council | Paragraph 6 includes China and Russia’s support for Brazil and India “to play a greater role in the United Nations, including its Security Council.” | Paragraph 13 repeats that sentence. Kazan 2024, paragraph 8, did not contain it. | No |
| New Development Bank | Paragraph 45: “We fully support the leadership of President Dilma Rousseff, whose reappointment received strong backing from all members.” | Paragraph 115 has no Rousseff sentence. It adds the BRICS-NDB Knowledge Portal and the Moscow meeting of 14–15 May 2026. | Yes |
| Payments | Paragraph 50 tasks ministers to continue the BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative. | Paragraph 90 names “trade settlements and investments using BRICS local currencies” and encourages the payment task force to continue. | Continued |
| Next chair | Paragraph 126: “full support to India for its BRICS Chairship in 2026.” | Paragraph 140: “full support to China for its BRICS Chairship in 2027.” | Yes |
Membership and partner countries in the text
Paragraph 3 recognises “the valuable contribution of Partner countries to BRICS cooperation” and does not name them. The Rio de Janeiro Declaration, paragraph 3, did name a partner-country list. This page does not reprint it. The roster is kept at bricsnations.org/partners/.
New Development Bank language
Paragraph 115 says the bank “embarks on its second golden decade of high-quality development,” encourages “local currency financing,” and records appreciation for “the 11th NDB Annual Meeting in Moscow on the 14-15 May 2026.” The bank, as distinct from this paragraph, is the New Development Bank note.
Who chairs BRICS next?
China. Paragraph 140 of the BRICS New Delhi Declaration says: “We extend full support to China for its BRICS Chairship in 2027 and the holding of the XIX BRICS Summit in China.” Paragraph 139 commends “India’s BRICS Chairship in 2026.” The declaration does not state the calendar day of the handover. Rio paragraph 126 had been the matching line: “We extend full support to India for its BRICS Chairship in 2026 and the holding of the XVIII BRICS Summit in India.”
The short version
On 12 September 2026, BRICS leaders adopted the BRICS New Delhi Declaration. The operational lines name China’s 2027 chairship, continued work by the payment task force on local-currency settlement, a wider role for the New Development Bank, and dated mechanisms that include a healthy-lifestyle roadmap for 2026–2029 and BRICS AGRIN.
On West Asia, paragraph 28 calls for “maximum restraint” and the protection of civilians, and it does not name the United States, Israel, Iran, or the United Arab Emirates. Israel is named later, on Gaza and Lebanon. The United States and Ukraine are not named in the document. Press of 12–13 September 2026 called the war paragraph an Iran–UAE compromise. That is reporting, not a clause of the text.
The next chair is China. Paragraph 140 extends full support for China’s BRICS chairship in 2027 and for the XIX summit in China.
Sources
- BRICS New Delhi Declaration, 12 September 2026, Presidency of South Africa copy. HTML copy: Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Rio de Janeiro Declaration, 6 July 2025.
- Kazan Declaration, 23 October 2024, Russian chairmanship text.
- The Hindu, Suhasini Haidar, 12 September 2026, and Al Jazeera, 13 September 2026. Both are reporting on the negotiation, not sources for the wording of the text.